Beginner-friendly machine-built cross country trails.

Statistics

0 - 1

hrs

188

m

188

m

3

max°

Difficulty

FATMAP difficulty grade

Easy

Description

Alameda Park is one of the newest mountain bike trail systems in the greater Pittsburgh area, but this rapidly-growing network has quickly earned a devoted following.

In contrast to classic trails in the region like Moraine State Park that only provide challenging, technical, classic singletrack, Alameda consists entirely of machine-built trails. While there are only a few true downhill flow-style sections in this park due to the short length of the hills, it feels like the builders tried their best to incorporate flow features wherever possible.

The flowy singletrack trails roll up and down the hills at Alameda Park, providing swoopy downhills with berms on every corner.

Rollers, tabletops, and doubles fill almost every section of trail—even in places where the trail speed seems unlikely to lend itself to air time.

Even still, the builders tried their very best to incorporate as much flow into Alameda as possible. Thanks to the machine-built nature of the singletrack, these are some of the buffest and smoothesst singletrack trails in Western PA.

Don’t let the trail difficulties on the signs fool you: while many of the trails at Alameda are labeled with a black diamond rating, none of these trails would rank higher than a green/blue rating on a global scale.

The only factor adding difficulty to these trails is the steepness of some of the uphill grades.

For a trail system that seems on the surface like it was designed so well, a few of the awkward sharp corners to steep uphill grades are real headscratchers.

Either those sections were poorly considered, or they were intentionally constructed to add challenge—and neither of those options is good.

Admittedly, local riders rave about Alameda and claim that the more you ride it, the more you understand the flow of the trail system.

Hat tip to the locals and their rad work, because Alameda adds an incredible dimension to the local array of mountain bike trails.

If you’re looking for a prime beginner ride, look no further than Alameda Park!